"Uh hey Matt?" Sam called me for the first time since I blurted out about my feelings for her. She looked worried for some reason and I went to her on instinct.

"Hey are you alright?" I tired to ask gently, trying not to startle her or annoy her.

"Yeah uhm I am fine. It's just I thought a lot about what you said last week and...."

"Hey hey hey! It's fine. Don't worry about it too much. We are friends and colleagues first-"

"Let me finish please." She held up one finger to silence me and I quickly did exactly as she asked.

"Uh I know how weird things have been between us with you and uh Josh and all... and yeah you have certainly been acting weird for sometime now... but I want to give it a chance. Give us a chance." She smiles timidly, shocking me to my very core. Suddenly I felt strong, powerful even, as though I could achieve anything in my life!

Samirah wants to give me a chance.

I could feel my heart beating faster, as she came closer.

"How does lunch sound?" She smiled as she looked into my eyes, and I couldn't help but stutter out a weak yes. She laughed before she pulled me in for a hug and I froze.

Froze because I was in the arms of my love. I finally had what I wanted for a long long time. And yet all I could feel was utter guilt at hugging her, as though I was being unfaithful to Him, which was ironic because him and I were never together in the first place.

And yet, here I had everything I wanted in this world, but kept thinking about the one thing I could possibly never have....

~*~*~

I made my way to my apartment and sighed, when I caught sight of ajar door again.

"I don't want to see you now." I announced before I walked into my apartment, even though I wanted to run far way from it.

"Matt! Shut the hell up! I have come with a peace offering!" Came the surprising shout from the kitchen.

It's then that the smell of heavenly food wafted over and I closed my eyes and sighed as I was flooded with memories of the chicken soup my grandma used to make when I was small. I heard the clanking of vessels and broke out of my reverie.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled before I stomped over to the room and stopped in my tracks, my jaw dropped at me sight in front of me.

"You impressed?" He raised an eyebrow and while the urge to strangle him was there, it was overpowered by the urge to eat each and every dish laid out in front of me. There was so much food on the dining table(which I think was magically widened because I didn't remember it to be that huge). There were all kinds of food here, some of them I recognized like the pizza, the pasta, the momos, noodles and even sushi! And on the other hand I saw many dishes that I couldn't even identify, but definitely looked delicious, and the quantities were large enough to feed a hoard of hungry teens.

"I take it the date went well?" He leaned his face on both his hands perched on the table as he watched me like a hawk.

"Pretty well." I smiled. It was not as awkward as I imagined and I didn't even feel nervous.

"Which means you won't be needing my services as well?" I looked up to him, realizing that he was right.

"Maybe." I mumbled.

"Well sit down and eat. Think of this as my parting gift. After all, the girls already had it ready for the gluttony trial, and this may as well be the last time we see each other." He continued to stare into my eyes, but I swear I could feel him staring into my very soul.

"Why would I trust you? What if you have poisoned this or something?" I glared at him, hating for all the mind games and manipulation he played and yet wondered, what if...?

He gave a throaty laugh, before he got up and came right up to me.

"What will convince you that this isn't poisoned or something?" He smiled, wickedly.

"Eat it with me."

"You do realize I am a fallen angel who has the power of evil and chaos in my side and I am literally killing hundreds of people as we speak calmly right now, and that I am perfectly capable of killing you if I had wanted to without having to resort to paltry methods like poisoning?" he cocked his head haughtily.

I sighed before sitting down on the opposite side of the table he had sat at, but he just snapped his fingers and plopped down on to the chair that floated and stopped right next to me, gingerly.

"Shall we?" He gestured at the food and I nodded.

"Which one do you want first?"

"I think that pizza looks amazing." The moment those words left my mouth, the pizza appeared on our plates and he started biting into it without even thinking about it as I stared at it apprehensively for a minute.

"Trust me it won't bite." He shrugged but I also caught him mumbling about the same promise not extending for him, which did not reassure me one bit.

But it was free pizza and the aroma was overpowering and my mind was already made up before I had even sat down.

The first bite I took made me realise why this was part of the gluttony trial. The cheese melted in and the crust exploded filling in my mouth with the most scrumptious sauce I had ever tasted, and I quickly realized that despite how utterly delectable all the dishes were, the only semblance of thought running around in my mind was: MORE!

I quickly stuffed that slice in my mouth and went for a second, but was stopped by a gentle hand on mine.

I looked up to find the devil holding a napkin, looking at me amused.

"What? I am hungry." I heard myself mumble, but my hands itched to start eating the noodles with my bare hands, which would have appalled me had I been thinking straight.

Just need more food....

"You have a little something." He chuckled, gesturing to my entire lower face with the napkin.

My right hand struggled against his strong grip and I huffed. "Just let me eat!"

"You know what? I'll do it myself!" He let go of my hand but before I could grab the momos I had been eyeing for awhile, he swiftly reached over and wiped the tissue over my mouth and chin, crumpled the napkin and set it away.

And suddenly as if a spell had been broken, I forgot all about the mouth-watering delicacies in the room, my eyes focused on the most handsome chiseled face in existence.

"What? I got something now?" He chuckled low and throatily as though laughing at an inside joke and I shivered involuntarily.

"Yeah, uh right here." I suddenly got up and brushed our lips together but was pulled into a deep and hurried kiss.

It was as if one of us was dying and these were our last moments together, and we were both putting in every last bit of ourselves into these last few moments together. I felt as if every last nerve in my body was on fire, and as if the two of us were spontaneously combusting.

And as though I was dying, my life flashed through my eyes, my parents, my sister, my grandparents, Sam,Josh........ SAM!

My eyes opened of their own accord but so did the devil's and his eyes were glowing bright red as though very angry.

Our kiss stopped immediately and I was thrown out of the room, landing unharmed on the couch in the living room.

"It's always going to be her isn't it?" I heard a hoarse whisper before a snap and was left alone in my desolate apartment, alone with my thoughts, the lingering scent of scrumptious food and a happy evening making me sick at the thought of 'what could have been'... and what actually happened. And the distant sounds of screaming.

I quickly grabbed my backpack ran out of my apartment to see Sam clutching her office bag in front of her as if trying to ward of something.... which turned out to be 5 Spawns.

How ironic.

I quickly ran and shielded her from the spawn which was viciously attacking her with sharp talons and hisses. It took me a minute but I finally pulled out the gun and shot the Spawn through its head like I had practiced and it dissolved, just like Cam has told me it would. I shielded her behind my back as the two spawns in the front advanced and she whimpered and clutched my shirt as we heard the two spawns advancing on us behind our back.

I quickly flipped us and shot the two in the back before shifting us back to our original positions.

The two spawns in the front schreeched furiously at the loss of their siblings, I guess.

"Sam. I want you to run back to that building." I pointed at my apartment hoping she would do as instructed.

She shook her head and cried out something about saving her from the wolves.

I recalled Cam telling me about how the spawns manifested as a person's worst fears once they have targeted that particular person.

I sighed.

This would have been way easier with Sam out of harm's way.

I feinted to the left and shot the one on the right and swiftly shot the other one too, and almost buckled under the pressure when Sam suddenly collapsed onto my back wearily.

I led Sam up to my apartment and she kept shivering all the while, not meeting my eyes.

"You are safe Sam, don't worry." I patted her shoulder not wanting to startle her and she nodded bleakly.

"I'm safe." She echoes again hollowly.

I let her sink into the couch while I went to prepare her something to eat but came back to find a softly snoring Sam and decided to store the food away, for I was too full of adrenaline and guilt to eat.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Fooooddddd!

God I love food!

Okay I'll stop now.

How did you like this chapter? Personally, it was like an emotional roller coaster, but it also seems as if I have rushed it...

Bleh, I'm kinda tired, maybe I'll edit it later to make it look less rushed?

Also I have some really good news: This book is done! Like at least in draft! And now itd going to be uploaded regularly within the next 1-2 weeks

P.S: What's your take on a spinoff involving poor Josh? ;)

P.P.S: What do you think about another totally unrelated mxm novel that I am co-writing with my friend(read: fiend), which is mostly innocent fluff at this stage?